Hagin and his followers teach that man is a spirit, who has a soul, and lives in a body. The implication of this is that the true identity of man is his spirit, and the spirit of man is, therefore, thought to be the most substantial part of him. This belief is often demonstrated by the fact that the people who believe this teaching lay the palm of their hand on the stomach of a person, about the height of the navel, during the laying on of hands. (Because this is the part of the body in which the spirit is supposed to live.)
The spirit of man is assumed to be a spiritual entity which can be separated from the soul and the body. The soul, they assume, is composed of thoughts, emotions, and will. It is assumed that the faculties of reason reside in the soul and, therefore, reason cannot be trusted. The true identity of man is said to be his spirit, or in other words, his spirit is the real person.
According to these teachings, an unbeliever is supposed to have the nature of Satan in his spirit, while the Christian who is born again, is said to have the nature of God in his spirit. The human spirit of a Christian is assumed to be completely divine and, therefore, without any sinful part. This means that it is only with the spirit (or “the real person”) that a believer can communicate with God. Any problems with sin or demons are said to reside in your soul, and therefore, not in your real self.
The practical implication of this doctrine is that in order to live victoriously over sin and demons, you must let your spirit control your soul and body. In this way, you have to take authority over sin rather than confess to God that you are a sinner, and that you have sinned; because, the real you (your spirit) is sinless. The problem of sin, therefore, becomes transferred to your unsaved soul and body, and you do not need to ask God for cleansing from sin but, rather, you must take authority over it yourself.
This doctrine at times leads to the assumption that the Christian is a god. Kenneth Copeland says, “You need to realise that you are not a spiritual schizophrenic — half-God and half-Satan — you are all-God.” 40 and, “You don’t have a god in you. You are one!” 41
One of the leading pastors of the movement in Sweden has said, “If I were to die now — which I do not intend to do — but supposing I were to die now, and my body were laid down, and if you were to see in the Spirit what I looked like, my real self, you would not be able to see the difference between God and me. … God puts a new creature into your spirit and you receive life in Him. You become exactly like God! You know, this is different from going about calling yourself a poor sinner, instead of saying: “I am an heir of God, and I am God! … Just listen to what I say here and switch off your religious mind for five minutes!” 42
However, this strict division of the spirit, soul and body of man, as though they were three distinct and separable entities is not consistent with the Bible. According to Bible scholar Fredrik Brosche, the Jewish Biblical view of man is that he is a whole. 43 This whole can be described from different aspects; for instance spirit, soul and body (I Thessalonians 5:23), or heart, soul, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5), or heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). In the Bible, soul and spirit are used interchangeably as though they were synonymous.
The way the Bible describes the different parts of man is varied, such as the division between the spirit and the flesh, which can also be expressed in other words. This is a question of a battle between love for God and your neighbour on one side, and selfishness and lust for power on the other; and this battle involves the whole of man. No part of man is immune to sin, and there is no inner core in man to be trusted in the battle against sin. It is only God we can trust.
The Bible says in Hebrews 4:12, that the Word of God divides soul and spirit. If this is only seen superficially, it could be interpreted as if the spirit and the soul are separate entities of man and that they should be separated, just as the Faith teachings say. But an alternative interpretation, which fits with other parts of the Scriptures, is that this is a description of the penetrating power of the Word of God, rather than a command to separate your spirit from your soul. If you were to use this Scripture in Hebrews 4:12 as a basis for teaching people to separate their spirit from their soul, then, in order to be consistent, you would have to apply the same principle to the last part of the verse and say that you must separate joints and marrow. However, if you tried to do the latter, the effect on physical life would be rather disastrous! What Hebrews 4:12 appears to be saying is that the Word of God penetrates the very depths of our being and that nothing is hidden from God.
Though the teaching on the strict division of spirit, soul and body is very fundamentally damaging to a believer, nevertheless, I felt a great liberation and boost of my self-confidence when I first heard it. This was dynamite compared to the traditional message of sinners saved by grace, or so I thought.
Later on, I found that the teaching led me to attempt to be stronger and more spiritual than I really was. I was trying to manage myself, without help from God or from friends. Everything I needed was supposedly deposited in my own spirit and, therefore, I could do it all by myself.
This became a form of hypocrisy as I tried to show a front that was quite different from my real inward experience. Any close or relaxed relationship became a potential threat, and even prayer became less and less honest. I became progressively more abandoned to myself and to the teaching that was supposed to help me overcome the world by my own strength. This turned out to be something very different from the true Gospel about the grace of God through faith in Christ.
When I finally rediscovered the Gospel, I realised that the foundation of my salvation and my life as a Christian is something that lies outside myself because it is found in Christ and in Him only. After having attempted to live on the lie that the core of my being was sinless, it became a great relief when I was able to acknowledge that sin and weakness penetrated my innermost being. I realised that my salvation and my standing with God was not affected by the unrighteousness of my inner self, because it rests only on what Christ has done. Jesus alone is completely righteous and without sin. The new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17) is a person who has given up trusting in himself, and has turned to Jesus. This person is made fully righteous in Him, but the basis of this righteousness is all the time in Jesus and not in the person himself.
In stark contrast to the Faith teachings, the Biblical doctrine of righteousness is unfolded in the Epistle to the Romans, and specially in chapters 1-3, it clearly excludes any possibility of a righteousness that is inherent in self. The Christian is justified only through faith in Jesus Christ (3:22). Chapter 4 shows that this righteousness is imputed (counted) to the Christian even though he is still a sinner by nature. Transgressions are forgiven and sin is covered (4:7). This means that it was not a question of Abraham and David receiving a divine nature in their innermost beings. No, they realised that they could not manage to keep the law. Instead, they believed in Him who justifies the ungodly, and their faith was credited to them as righteousness.
The Faith teachers try to say that it was only in the Old Testament that sins were covered and righteousness imputed, and that in the New Covenant, God completely changes the innermost nature of a Christian. But Romans does not make this distinction because it says that righteousness is credited to us in the same way as it was credited to Abraham (4:23-24).
When Paul and Barnabas heard that the people of Lystra thought that they were gods (Acts 14:14), they became very upset. They did not maintain that they had the divine nature in their spirits, but, on the contrary, they told the people that they were human beings with the same nature as the non-Christians in the crowd. The difference was that they had turned to the living God, and this was what they also urged the people to do.
The Bible does say that believers may be filled with the Holy Spirit and sanctified by the same Spirit. This should be taught, while at the same time it must be emphasised that the basis for our righteousness and salvation is in Christ alone as the first chapters of Romans clearly teach.
One of the key words that is used in the Faith teachings regarding the relationship between the believer and Jesus is the term identification. You are urged to identify yourself with Jesus so that you practically step into His position. Rather than being in a relationship of dependency on Him, you must try to take His position yourself as though you were Christ.
Whereas the Bible does describe an intimate closeness between the believer and the Spirit of God, this is a relationship between two persons, rather than a merging between them. This relationship is likened to the relationship between a husband and wife (Ephesians 5:22-33). The marriage relationship unites them as one, but they still continue to be separate individuals. The one partakes of the other, but does not become that person. The close intimacy between the Holy Spirit and the believer is to be understood in the same way.
In summarising, the most important point is that we must keep the distinction between God being God, and man being man. The basis for our salvation is outside ourselves, in Jesus Christ. Christianity is having a relationship with Jesus rather than identifying oneself with Him as though there is no distinction between us and Him. 44
Footnotes
40. Kenneth Copeland, Believer’s Voice of Victory, March 1982, p 2. Quotation from Horton, The Agony of Deceit.
41. Kenneth Copeland, The Force of Love, Tape BCC-56. Quote from Horton, The Agony of Deceit.
42. Severin: Sådan Han är – Sådana aro vi (As He is – So are We). 21.4.87. Translated from Swedish.
43. Brosche, Fredrik: Helhetssynen återupptackt.
44. Further Scripture Readings: Genesis 3:5, Exodus 20:3, 23:3, Isaish 14:13-15, Ezekiel 28:6-9, John 17:3, Acts 14:11-15, I Corinthians 4:8-10, 15:8-10, II Corinthians 4:7, Galatians 3:20, II Thessalonians 2:4, I Timothy 1:15, 2:5, I John 1:8, James 5:17.
